A nice cup of tea

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 934.

Tea is more than just a drink to the British – it is a way of life. Many people drink it first with breakfast, then mid-morning, with lunch, at tea-time (around 5 o'clock), with dinner, and finally just before bed. As a nation, they get through 185 million cups per day! No less than 77 per cent of British people are regular tea drinkers; they drink more than twice as much tea as coffee.

Most people use tea bags these days, but serous tea lovers still go through an almost Japanese-style ceremony: warm the pot, add tealeaves and boiling water, cover the pot with a cosy to keep it hot, leave to brew for five minutes and then pour into delicate china cups with saucers. The selection of tea is very personal: Darjeeling, Breakfast Tea, Assam, Earl Grey, Lapsang Souchong and many others.

Tea has worked into the language, too. At work people have tea breaks, even if they drink coffee. Many British people call the main evening meal tea (it is also known as dinner or supper). When there is a lot of trouble about something very unimportant, it is called a storm in a tea cup. When someone is upset or depressed, people say they need tea and sympathy.

4. Discuss the following questions:

1. When do British people drink tea?

2. How much tea do the British drink?

3. Do you prefer to use a tea bag or go through a special ceremony to prepare tea?

4. What do the British say when there is a lot of trouble about something unimportant? What is the Russian equivalent of this phrase?

5. Describe the ceremony of preparing tea. Put the actions in the correct order:

A. Brew tea for five minutes

B. Add tealeaves and boiling water

C. Cover the pot with a cosy

D. Pour the tea into cups

E. Warm the pot